Gary Snyder's first few books of poetry were reviewed by only a handful of critics, but all of them wrote very favorably of the poet's work. Most comments centered on Snyder's easy lyrical style and precise portrayal of the natural world, some noting that he was simply writing the life he was living. After this positive beginning, Snyder moved to Japan and little was heard from him back in the States. When he returned and began construction on his home in the Sierra Nevadas, he wrote the poems forTurtle Island.

This book was not received favorably by many critics at first. It was considered too limited in scope, most of the poems drawing on the poet's own regional environment and on his own friends and experiences. In his " 'Thirty Miles of Dust: There Is No Other Life,'" Scott McLean states that, "scholars lamented his...